IGT 05/04 - Mets at Braves - Series Matter (ask anyone)

[Guest d'Kong76]

[youtube:3kjug8vd]-sUXMzkh-jI[/youtube:3kjug8vd]

[batmagadanleadoff]

People are sayin'.

[Frayed Knot]

Winning three of four sounds a helluva lot better than finishing up this series two-and-two

It is raining now and is expected to rain most of the day in Atlanta (and presumably in nearby Cumberland, Georgia as well) before slacking off sometime this evening.
iow, this game may or may not start on time and there's a chance it won't come off at all.

[Centerfield]

Frayed Knot wrote: Winning three of four sounds a helluva lot better than finishing up this series two-and-two It is raining now and is expected to rain most of the day in Atlanta (and presumably in nearby Cumberland, Georgia as well) before slacking off sometime this evening. iow, this game may or may not start on time and there's a chance it won't come off at all.

Agreed. This is a pretty big game. Win it and you've won 2/3 against the Nats and 3/4 against the Braves. 5-2 is encouraging. 4-3 is ok.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

d'Kong76 wrote: [youtube]-sUXMzkh-jI[/youtube]

I love that video.

[Edgy MD]

Yo, tambien. AC/DC is a band that should never be shot in hi-def. They were born for grainy super-8.

Look for Wilmer's return. Gary speculates he'll be at second with T.J. remaining at first, but I don't see any reason it shouldn't be the other way around, save for some sort of inertia that has caused a week of firstbasing to imprint upon T.J. that he is, somehow now a firstbaseman, first and foremost, until crisis forces the manager's hand.

[Guest d'Kong76]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I love that video.

Edgy MD wrote: Yo, tambien.

Right!?! I posted it a half hour ago and I'm still grinning.

[Guest d'Kong76]

NY Mets at Atlanta
When: 7:35 PM ET, Thursday, May 4, 2017
Where: SunTrust Park, Cumberland, Georgia
By Gracenote

Curtis Granderson’s struggles have been one of many things to go wrong for the New York Mets in the first five weeks of 2017, but the veteran outfielder enters the finale of a four-game series Thursday at the Atlanta Braves after snapping a 1-for-30 skid. Granderson, who was 3-for-49 over his past 14 games and batting .122 entering Wednesday, helped fuel New York’s 16-5 victory by going 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles as the Mets won for just the fifth time in the past 17 games.

Granderson was joined during Wednesday’s hit parade – New York tied a season high with 20 hits – by Jose Reyes, who went 2-for-4 with a career high-tying five RBIs as he has raised his average from .095 to .186 in his past nine games. The Braves lost for only the third time in eight games despite scoring five runs or more for the seventh time during that span. Catcher Tyler Flowers extended his hitting streak to five games and is batting .526 in that stretch. Leadoff hitter Ender Inciarte went 0-for-4, as the Braves dropped to 2-11 when Inciarte does not score a run.

TV: 7:35 p.m. ET, SNY (New York), FSN Southeast (Atlanta)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Mets RH Zack Wheeler (1-2, 4.78 ERA) vs. Braves LH Jaime Garcia (1-1, 3.99)

The best news for the 26-year-old Wheeler is he appears healthy after missing each of the past two seasons with injuries. Through five starts, Wheeler has allowed three earned runs or less three times, including a no-decision Saturday in Washington in which he gave up one earned run with four walks and four strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. Wheeler, who grew up near Atlanta’s new SunTrust Park, is holding opponents to a .195 batting average the second time through the lineup (compared to .268 the first time through the order).

Garcia ended his first month with Atlanta with three solid starts in a row, going 1-0 while allowing two earned runs in six-plus innings in each outing. That victory came Saturday at Milwaukee, as Garcia earned his first victory after giving up three hits in six innings with five walks and three strikeouts. Acquired in a trade with St. Louis in the offseason, the 30-year-old Garcia suffered his only loss of the season in his Braves debut at New York on April 6, surrendering four runs on six hits with no strikeouts in six innings.

WALK-OFFS:
1. New York LF Michael Conforto finished 3-for-6 Wednesday, extending his hitting streak to six games during which he is hitting .444 with three homers and 10 RBIs.
2. Atlanta 2B Brandon Phillips is one stolen base shy of becoming the 48th player in major-league history with at least 200 career homers and 200 career steals.
3. New York SS Wilmer Flores (knee infection) was activated from the disabled list before Wednesday’s game, flying out as a pinch hitter in the seventh.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I don't think this game's any more important than any of the others. Who cares about the order in which the wins come? Its the total that counts. OK, it's against a division rival so there's that, I suppose. But not much more that I can see.

[Guest d'Kong76]

It's huge. Huge, I tell ya!

[batmagadanleadoff]

People are sayin'.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Ask anyone.

[MFS62]

Edgy MD wrote: Look for Wilmer's return. Gary speculates he'll be at second with T.J. remaining at first, but I don't see any reason it shouldn't be the other way around, save for some sort of inertia that has caused a week of firstbasing to imprint upon T.J. that he is, somehow now a firstbaseman, first and foremost, until crisis forces the manager's hand.

As long as TJ is still hitting, feels comfortable there, and no small animals have been harmed, let him stay there.

Later

[Edgy MD]

I believe in psychology more than anybody. But I think we sometimes create a psychological block by our own deference to psychology. If it's not the team's best defensive alignment, but he's comfortable there, leave him. If having Conforto at the top of the lineup but the likes of Walker or Granderson batting cleanup, but Conforto is comfortable, leave it be.

But maybe it's the discomfort the manager has with moving guys in deference to their pysches, that projects discomfort within their psyches. One day in the clubhouse of the Tidewater Tides, Davey Johnson didn't post a lineup. He just drew the guys on the chalkboard at their defensive positions. The players asked him what gives, and he said he was so confident that the team would win that day, that the lineup didn't matter. And then he invited the starting players to step forward and draw a number from a hat, and that would be their position in the batting order.

From that, you can conclude that batting order doesn't really matter strategically, but you can also conclude that moving players to what what you see as the best alignment in the batting order (and on defense) shouldn't really matter psychologically, if you project the right attitude.

Earl Weaver, by the way, didn't work out Cal Ripken at shortstop. He just wrote Ripken's name in the lineup over there. Ripken walked into his office and asked him about it, and Weaver told him "Just stay within yourself and you'll be fine."

[Guest d'Kong76]

Edgy MD wrote: I believe in psychology more than anybody. But I think we sometimes create a psychological block by our own deference to psychology.

It's going to be one of those days!! Ask anyone.
34wASuHRuRo
#LGM #YGB #Aa

[Benjamin Grimm]

Edgy MD wrote: I believe in psychology more than anybody.

That sounds a little Trumpian. You just needed to phrase it slightly differently: "Nobody believes in psychology more than I do!"

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, that sounds like shit. I retract that. "I don't stand by anything!"

[Guest 41Forever]

I think the order matters. Winning back-to-back series against division rivals after seemingly losing every game since Easter -- and doing so with half the team on the DL -- has to provide some kind of boost.

One of our churches each year promotes vacation Bible school with a parade float that includes a band. I'll never look at it again the same way after seeing that video!

[TransMonk]

Agreed - winning this series will be better than splitting.

[Edgy MD]

Also, winning the final game of a series, or the final game of a road trip or homestand is preferable to winning the next-to-last. You want to go out a winner. Get on the plane with a sense of momentum. Psychology!

[Fman99]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: d'Kong76 wrote: [youtube]-sUXMzkh-jI[/youtube] I love that video.

Never know that Bon Scott was playing the bagpipes on that song. Cool.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Malcolm blows my mind. What a powerhouse of rocknrhythm

[Centerfield]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: I don't think this game's any more important than any of the others. Who cares about the order in which the wins come? Its the total that counts. OK, it's against a division rival so there's that, I suppose. But not much more that I can see.

I feel like the order does matter. I have no way of proving this, but it certainly seems to make a difference. Psyche, morale, etc.

In the same way it feels like the order in which runs scored matters. The Mets were up 5-0, and eventually won 16-5. You could say it doesn't matter how the runs were scored, at the end it was not a close game. But I feel like had the Mets jumped in front 5-0, and then let Atlanta tie the game, the end result could have been much different.

No way to back it up, but just a hunch.

[Edgy MD]

Or if you go into the ninth leading 10-0, and suddenly give up run after run as you cycle a parade of impotent relievers out there trying to get three outs, and hang on for a 10-9 victory, sweating to the last, it's not quite the same momentum kick as going to the ninth down nine runs, and pounding out run after one for a victory of the same 10-9 margin.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Just got a re-tweet, game upgraded to really huge from huge.
Don't shoot me, I'm only the messenger. Really huge, I tell ya.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Inciarte DF
Phillips 2B
Freeman 1B
Kemp LF
Markakis RF
Suzuki C
Peterson 3B
Swanson SS
Garcia P

[Frayed Knot]

NWS for the Atlanta region -- "Expect occasional rain to end by 10:00 PM"

There's no way they start a game that late on a get-away day (Braves staying where they are, Mets flying back to NYC) so the viability of tonight's game depends on how occasional the "occasional" rain
is between 7:30 and 10:00
The future map shows a line of the real colorful stuff running right through that area right at the scheduled game time of 7:30 and then leftover stuff after that. That projection is of course over 3 hours in
advance and a lot can happen between now and then, but I think there's a pretty good chance that, at best, it's going to be past the scheduled time before they drop the puck on this one.

[Guest d'Kong76]

[tweet:1qr0xbvt]

[/tweet:1qr0xbvt]

[Edgy MD]

No Curtis, no Walker in our righthanded gala of a lineup. But is there a Conforto? Oh, yes, there is.

And again, welcome back to Flores. STAPH IS NO LAPH!

[*:188ma94s]Conforto, lf[/*:m:188ma94s]
[*:188ma94s]Cabrera, ss[/*:m:188ma94s]
[*:188ma94s]Bruce, rf[/*:m:188ma94s]
[*:188ma94s]Flores, 2b[/*:m:188ma94s]
[*:188ma94s]Rivera, T.J., 1b[/*:m:188ma94s]
[*:188ma94s]Reyes, 3B[/*:m:188ma94s]
[*:188ma94s]Rivera, R, c[/*:m:188ma94s]
[*:188ma94s]Lagares, cf[/*:m:188ma94s]
[*:188ma94s]Wheeler, sp[/*:m:188ma94s][/list:o:188ma94s]

[Guest d'Kong76]

Last time I re-tweet chopped liver here!